Cardiac Disease Events Up in Metabolically Healthy Obese

TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Metabolically healthy obese individuals have increased risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure compared with normal-weight individuals, according to a study published in the Sept. 19 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Rishi Caleyachetty, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined the correlations among metabolically healthy obese individuals and four different presentations of incident cardiovascular disease in a cohort of 3.5 million individuals, aged 18 years or older, using electronic health records in The Health Improvement Network. Body size phenotypes were created, defined by body mass index categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese), and three metabolic abnormalities (diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia) were assessed.

The researchers found that, compared with normal-weight individuals with no metabolic abnormalities, obese individuals with no metabolic abnormalities had a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure during a mean follow-up of 5.4 years (multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios, 1.49, 1.07, and 1.96, respectively). With increasing number of metabolic abnormalities, the risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure increased in normal weight, overweight, and obese individuals.

"Metabolically healthy obese individuals had a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure than normal weight metabolically healthy individuals," the authors write. "Even individuals who are normal weight can have metabolic abnormalities and similar risks for cardiovascular disease events."